WASHINGTON (AP) – President Donald Trump is heading to Asia this week, hoping to make big movements that attract attention on the world stage after his party suffered heavy losses in the midterm electionsdiminishing his position at home.
The Republican president is using his international trip to try to change the dynamic, and he’s ready to make a splash with a historic three-way encounter with the presidents Xi Jinping of China and Vladimir Putin of Russia to talk about its nuclear stocks. Trump has long boasted about leveraging his relationships with the leaders of two of America’s biggest global adversaries, even though he has so far failed to make major gains with them.
He first goes to the Philippines to meet Tuesday Southeast Asian leaders who count on help from the United States to counter Beijing’s aggression in the region. Trump will then travel to China on Wednesday to Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit. There he will have his third face-to-face meeting this year with Xi and will also see Putin.
A year ago, Trump used a similar trip to Asia to agree a trade truce with China and obtain investment promises from Japan and South Korea. This time, Trump is leaving with his party, which has no longer controlled Congress since January and whose attention is starting to turn to a harvest of presidential candidates which aims to replace it in 2028.
“I think he, like other presidents, understood this at a time when things are really difficult domestically: to get on a plane and go international,” said Kurt Campbellformer deputy secretary of state in Democratic President Joe Biden’s administration and chairman of consulting firm The Asia Group.
It’s a model followed by some of Trump’s predecessors.
Democratic President Barack Obama visited Beijing days after his party lost the Senate in 2014 to negotiate carbon emissions targets with Xi. Republican President George W. Bush visited APEC in Vietnam after the Republican Party lost control of Congress in 2006, although the Iraq War weighed on his trip.
The White House said Trump would sign a trade deal with Thailand in Manila as well as a series of trade deals and would be the “guest of honor” at a leaders’ dinner. In Shenzhen, he will focus on trade issues before the meeting with Xi and Putin.
Trump’s troubles may follow him
Trump leaves as airlines struggle to get passengers on flights after national crisis ground stop on Friday, thousands of flights were canceled. Trump and his officials have blamed their predecessors, a contractor and Congress for the problems.
Trump is about to be stuck at home in a way that could restrict what he can do abroad.
Its prices And war with Iran turned out to be toxic for voters. Going forward, Trump’s ability to threaten import taxes or military assaults — two of his primary foreign policy tools — will be limited by Democratic majorities on Capitol Hill in the new year.
Last week, in a new vulnerability, his efforts to boost artificial intelligence were complicated when Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang resigned after admit to an affair with an alleged Chinese government agent. Beijing said it was not involved.
Huang had traveled with Trump on Air Force One during his trip to China in May, and he and his wife were at the head table when Trump welcomed Xi to Washington for a meeting. state dinner in September.
Trump argued that America must preserve its AI leadership and warned of dire consequences if China wins this competition. But Trump has no plans to confront Xi on the issue, said administration officials who insisted on anonymity as a condition of gaining insight into the president’s plans during a call with reporters.
Officials said they didn’t think Nvidia’s situation would weigh on travel. Even as the administration discusses ways to close loopholes and further prevent Chinese companies from using advanced chips made by Nvidia and other U.S. companies, officials said they do not expect the restrictions to provoke retaliation from Beijing.
Trump will be accompanied by Elon Musk, the boss of SpaceX and Tesla, who is the richest man in the world and a frequent advisor to the president. Musk spent at least $445 million to try to help Republicans maintain control of Congress, and Democrats want to investigate his ties to the administration.
Trump’s actions abroad face new scrutiny at home
Trump may find it easier to be in the company of foreign leaders than his own crumbling coalition at home. But his words and actions at summits are now more likely to attract control during committee hearings upon his return to Washington.
“We’re going to be watching it very closely,” said Rep. Gregory Meeks of New York, the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
Meeks and other top Democrats on the committee have already called on the administration to provide more information on its approval of exports of advanced AI chips after the Nvidia revelations.
Democrats will also push for a much tougher approach to Putin and Xi, leaders they view as authoritarian strongmen.
“It seems like when Xi or Putin comes to America, he rolls out the red carpet for them — but when other American allies come, he doesn’t roll out the red carpet for them,” Meeks said.
Democrats want the administration to impose tougher sanctions on Russia over the war in Ukraine and have called on the administration to respect an arms deal with Taiwan, which China sought to block.
Trump suggested he wanted to talk to Xi and Putin about nuclear weaponsan area in which China has been reluctant to engage in the past. China has a much smaller stockpile than the United States and Russia, giving it less incentive to accept restrictions.
The wars in Iran and Ukraine will also weigh on the negotiations
The visit comes as Trump is at a crossroads of the war with Iranwho is widely blamed for the destruction of his political support at home. It’s also a source of economic instability in Asia as prices of jet fuel and diesel have soared. Trump has tried to play down the chances that he will order a resumption of major strikes against Iran, although he has also said he does not see the need for talks.
Democrats will likely consider whether the president confronts Xi and Putin over the r reports that China and Russia helped Tehran, something Trump has previously rejected.
Trump recently played the chances of a settlement to the Russian war in Ukraine. President Volodymyr Zelensky was not invited to the negotiations in China, sparking outrage among Democrats and some Russia hawks in his own party. Administration officials said Trump should not discuss Ukraine with Putin during the meeting.
The sheer number of issues weighing on Trump threatens to overshadow some important issues for other regional leaders he will speak with, including the strength of U.S. support for countering China’s influence in the Asia-Pacific region. In Manila, Trump is expected to hold talks with leaders of the Quad, a group of countries including the United States, Australia, India and Japan. It will be the first meeting of Quad leaders since Trump returned to the White House last year.
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Associated Press writer Joey Cappelletti contributed to this report.
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